Jeff Bezos has leapt past Amancio Ortega and Warren Buffett to become the world’s second richest person.
Bezos, 53, added US$1,5bn to his fortune as Amazon.com rose US$18,32 on Wednesday, the day after the e-commerce giant said it plans to buy Dubai-based online retailer Souq.com.
Bezos has a net worth of $75,6bn (R978bn at the time of writing) on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, $700m more than Berkshire Hathaway’s Buffett and $1,3bn above Ortega, the founder of Inditex and Europe’s richest person.
Amazon’s founder has added $10,2bn this year to his wealth and $7bn since the global equities rally began following the election of Donald Trump as US president on 8 November.
The rise is the third biggest on the Bloomberg index in 2017, after Chinese parcel-delivery billionaire Wang Wei’s $18,4bn gain and an $11,4bn rise for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Buffett, who’s added $1,7bn in 2017, has shed $4,7bn since his fortune peaked at $79,6bn on 1 March. Ortega is up $2,1bn year-to-date.
Bezos remains $10,4bn behind Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the world’s richest person with $86bn (R1,1 trillion at the time of writing). — (c) 2017 Bloomberg LP
- Reported with assistance from Tom Metcalf and Spencer Soper
